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[("Hamlet": A User's Guide)] [Author: Michael Pennington] published on
"Pennington's great experience of the play...love for it...depth of knowledge...of many productions and interpretations culminate in a book of infinite value to any actor, director and above all to any passionate playgoer...written with passion, humor and rigor...an excellent read." -Ralph Fiennes
- GenresShakespeareTheatre
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First published February 1, 1996
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 2, 2022
This was a book I was expecting to slowly peruse over a period of, in all probability, a few weeks. You read a bit with your tea and a snack in the afternoon—a sort of small savory, in between whatever it is you’ve got going on in the day. And then you put the book down and resume what you’re doing, not possessed of any sort of compelling need to turn the page and find out what happens next because, hey, it’s not a pulpy page turner. It’s a work of nonfiction exploring, in essence, how one goes about understanding Hamlet. I assumed I’d like the book. I did not expect to love it.
This was a book I really could not put down. In structure, it’s easily digestible: it’s split into tidy sections to focus the scope. The bulk of the book concerns the text of the play itself, in a sort of close-reading of the plot, the language, and the character interactions. This is all interwoven with historical anecdotes on Hamlet and very interesting personal notes from an actor who has played in more productions of Hamlet than there are days in a year. The point being, he knows what he’s talking about. And it shows.
Of particular enjoyment were discussions on how the play actually functions as a play. I.e., how does one keep up the energy for a four-hour performance of Hamlet? How does a director balance the needs of the cast as a collective company against the central player as an individual? Should Ophelia be given real flowers rather than a phony prop (apparently, she should! Mr. Pennington makes a very convincing argument for both the sake of Ophelia as a character and the reaction in the audience). As someone with absolutely no acting experience, I’d never considered the mechanics of Hamlet in this fashion, and this viewpoint was especially fascinating.
So, the content is interesting; the author knows his stuff; the text is comprehensive and quite thorough for a book under 250 pages. The killer for these sorts of books, though, is always the prose—even if a book is useful, or technically well-written, it might not necessarily grab you if the writing is overly dry, or long-winded, or otherwise fatally boring.
Quite happily that was not an issue here. The prose is punchy, ranging from witty to heartfelt (observations on Shakespeare’s ability to slow down the text and focus on something as mundanely moving as a quiet mouse or frightened hedgehog are written so sincerely and so appreciatively that I haven’t quite shaken the thoughts off). Favorite bits:
On the scene break at the end of act three, which comes after two to two and a half hours of nonstop acting from the cast:
It has been the hour when the part has shaken the actor like a rat, throwing him from one crisis to the next with scarcely time to draw breath; and at the end of it he is washed up on the chilly plateau of his bleakest soliloquy, looking out from the bleak borders of the country in the bleak hours of dawn.
On Ophelia’s death:
The last we see of her, she is being thrown about in a grave, just as she was thrown about in life: shouted over by two assertive young men vying with each other over who loved her more, when there is no great evidence that either of them did very much.
On the author’s first exposure to Hamlet as a boy:
…so taken up was I by the Ghost, a billowing amoebic figure, its face tantalizingly obscure, its heart thumping in the battlement mists, the voice recorded in fact by Olivier himself—it harrowed me as surely as it did the Prince.
On being stuffed in a mechanical contraption to play the bottom half of the Ghost in a 1964 production of Hamlet (I promise this makes sense in context):
I thus found myself doing penance in advance for my Fortinbras, my forehead pressed against the grille, the back of my head in the loins of Magee, trying to maneuver myself around without sliding, snagging, colliding or suffocating.
Anyway, I’d highly recommend reading this book if you’ve any interest in Hamlet as a play. It’s an engaging read, with lovely prose, thoughtful analysis, and a deep, lifelong appreciation for the words as Shakespeare wrote them. Five stars, easily.
This was a book I really could not put down. In structure, it’s easily digestible: it’s split into tidy sections to focus the scope. The bulk of the book concerns the text of the play itself, in a sort of close-reading of the plot, the language, and the character interactions. This is all interwoven with historical anecdotes on Hamlet and very interesting personal notes from an actor who has played in more productions of Hamlet than there are days in a year. The point being, he knows what he’s talking about. And it shows.
Of particular enjoyment were discussions on how the play actually functions as a play. I.e., how does one keep up the energy for a four-hour performance of Hamlet? How does a director balance the needs of the cast as a collective company against the central player as an individual? Should Ophelia be given real flowers rather than a phony prop (apparently, she should! Mr. Pennington makes a very convincing argument for both the sake of Ophelia as a character and the reaction in the audience). As someone with absolutely no acting experience, I’d never considered the mechanics of Hamlet in this fashion, and this viewpoint was especially fascinating.
So, the content is interesting; the author knows his stuff; the text is comprehensive and quite thorough for a book under 250 pages. The killer for these sorts of books, though, is always the prose—even if a book is useful, or technically well-written, it might not necessarily grab you if the writing is overly dry, or long-winded, or otherwise fatally boring.
Quite happily that was not an issue here. The prose is punchy, ranging from witty to heartfelt (observations on Shakespeare’s ability to slow down the text and focus on something as mundanely moving as a quiet mouse or frightened hedgehog are written so sincerely and so appreciatively that I haven’t quite shaken the thoughts off). Favorite bits:
On the scene break at the end of act three, which comes after two to two and a half hours of nonstop acting from the cast:
It has been the hour when the part has shaken the actor like a rat, throwing him from one crisis to the next with scarcely time to draw breath; and at the end of it he is washed up on the chilly plateau of his bleakest soliloquy, looking out from the bleak borders of the country in the bleak hours of dawn.
On Ophelia’s death:
The last we see of her, she is being thrown about in a grave, just as she was thrown about in life: shouted over by two assertive young men vying with each other over who loved her more, when there is no great evidence that either of them did very much.
On the author’s first exposure to Hamlet as a boy:
…so taken up was I by the Ghost, a billowing amoebic figure, its face tantalizingly obscure, its heart thumping in the battlement mists, the voice recorded in fact by Olivier himself—it harrowed me as surely as it did the Prince.
On being stuffed in a mechanical contraption to play the bottom half of the Ghost in a 1964 production of Hamlet (I promise this makes sense in context):
I thus found myself doing penance in advance for my Fortinbras, my forehead pressed against the grille, the back of my head in the loins of Magee, trying to maneuver myself around without sliding, snagging, colliding or suffocating.
Anyway, I’d highly recommend reading this book if you’ve any interest in Hamlet as a play. It’s an engaging read, with lovely prose, thoughtful analysis, and a deep, lifelong appreciation for the words as Shakespeare wrote them. Five stars, easily.
January 3, 2018
When I acquired this volume to join the many books in my library that discuss "Hamlet" I truly underestimated its content. What appears to be singularly an "actors" guide I found in it a thorough and insightful commentary on the play on so many levels including an "actors'" guide. The ability of the actor/writer Michael Pennington to convey the behind the scenes thinking and acting options in approaching the play is wonderful but for those of us who have studied this work for a very long time it confirms the wonderful conclusion that no matter how long or how deep we study, the overall ambiguity of "Hamlet" remains intact... and so may it always be. Please let us never give serious ear to those who would suggest they "know" or "fully understand" the play or the character of Hamlet as therein lies its wonder and beauty, it is the "not knowing" !!! Highly recommended.
July 2, 2019
Hamlet from an actor's viewpoint. Five chapters summarizing the play, a section on the characters, and a conclusion. Not nearly as good as the book he wrote on Twelfth Night, a kind of routine interpretation but some interesting ideas.
June 24, 2015
A great book for actors and audience alike: it opens up the play in considerable detail, looks at problems, inconsistencies (of which there are plenty), difficulties of interpretation, the reading of lines, where to be when you speak the big moments, and strain on any actor doing the part and much much more.
It works through each act and each scene within it, always with great concern for the text. There are anecdotes galore (often in the footnotes) and much enlightenment on why the play is so great, and why it also has a few rubbish moments. Thankfully, he leaves the 'introduction' to the end. Not that it's at all boring, but it's certainly better placed there. And there are some additional notes on a bunch of the characters, some important, some not so much. For Pennington each role is important (he's even played the lower half of a very tall Ghost), and that's one of the features of the book. Investigating how to make the small characters as valuable as they can be, and how to encourage the actors to see them as valuable.
It works through each act and each scene within it, always with great concern for the text. There are anecdotes galore (often in the footnotes) and much enlightenment on why the play is so great, and why it also has a few rubbish moments. Thankfully, he leaves the 'introduction' to the end. Not that it's at all boring, but it's certainly better placed there. And there are some additional notes on a bunch of the characters, some important, some not so much. For Pennington each role is important (he's even played the lower half of a very tall Ghost), and that's one of the features of the book. Investigating how to make the small characters as valuable as they can be, and how to encourage the actors to see them as valuable.
February 26, 2014
witty, waspish ,clever and entertaining
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews